Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Hungry synths gulp at the fabric of the universe. Slithering spiky drones shred the veils of reality. The beat kicks in and tries to guide us through the chaos, but it's drowned out by a host of golden daffodils, all talking at once. And there you are in their midst, having undergone a Kafkaesque metamorphosis into a honeybee.

The latest chapter in Neil Campbell's beat-driven psychedelic noise odyssey is as vividly kaleidoscopic, intense and in-the-red as ever, and more guitar-heavy than usual. Relentlessly ecstatic, urgent, and joyous.

Barry Murphy is one half of Whirling Hall of Knives and has been active for over a decade as The Last Sound. His recent Osaka LP, Rainbow Xplode, was blissful psychedelic pop. This release has a more nocturnal feel, a fuzzed-out krauty trip that occasionally recalls Zuckerzeit-era Cluster or The Faust Tapes with skewed melodies reminiscent of Cardiacs and The Residents.

It's like burrowing under the covers with a shortwave radio and encountering a Kosmische party from some unidentifiable utopian state - almost painfully beautiful and tantalizingly distant. Then it's over and you can't be sure you haven't just dreamt it.stream / buy

Produced by The Last Sound 2006-2011. Mastered by Magnetize. Drums on A6, B1, B3, and B5 by Bryan O'Connell. Vocals on B5 by Maria O'Reilly. Thanks to families, friends, Magnetize, and Fort Evil Fruit.